DEATH CANNOT DIVIDE THOSE WHO LOVE

　A WOMAN, who was deeply in love with her husband, asked Silver Birch this question:

　"If it is true that we reincarnate, will I be separated from my loved one again?"

　She added, "I had hoped from my studies of Spiritualism that once we were reunited in the spirit world we should never part again."

　Silver Birch replied:

　"Those who love one another will not be separated from one another once they have passed through the incident that is called death. Love is the law; love is the attraction. Love unifies those whom the natural law has brought together, enabling the two halves to become one. There is no need to fear that there will be any parting between individuals who have found one another in perfect love."

　Answering another question, Silver Birch said:

　"Guidance and protection are very real when you have established true contact with the world of spirit. If all humanity could come within the magnetic field of spirit influence, there is so much more service that could be ren-dered to your world.

　"It is always a source of bewilderment to me that there are millions who refuse to have all the beauty and grandeur that could be theirs if they would only open their hearts and minds and spirits to that benediction of power which is available to them. Here is a world of spirit, full of enlightened souls at a much higher stage of evolution than you have reached, who desire to place all the richness of their gifts freely at your disposal.

　"Mourners need not weep, the sick can be healed, be-wildered ones can find direction in their hours of perplexity. the weary be given strength, the homeless provided with refuge and the hungry and the thirsty given food and drink. So much beauty and lustre could be added to your world, if there were more channels through which this wondrous force. the power of the spirit, could flow into it."

　Silver Birch was asked, "Is it desirable that there should be a fusion of what we know as Spiritualism and Orthodoxy?" He replied:

　"All this is but a question of words. I am not interested in titles, labels, classifications. 

　"I am interested in the spread of truth. Whatever helps to spread truth, to free mankind, to equip the children of the Great Spirit for the life that awaits them and enables them to live, worthy of their divine heritage, while they are on earthーwhatever achieves that has my blessing and the blessing of every enfranchised soul.

　"I am not concerned with what is called Spiritualism or what is called Orthodoxy, for these terms are too general and their classification leads to confusion. I am concerned with individuals striving to find light, seeking to unfold their innate divinity so that they can help all who are less fortunate than themselves. It is enough for every individual to do the best he can with the gifts that he possesseses and to know day by day that he has served the Great Spirit and His children to the best of his ability."

　This was another question answered by Silver Birch: "When a person goes to the spirit world, must he expiate wrong done as a young man, or can he expiate this wrong while still in this world?"

　"All is governed by circumstance," was the guide's re-joinder. "Whatever wrong you have done you must expiate it. That is an unalterable law, for the soul cannot progress until you have expunged that blot upon it. It does not matter when the wrong was doneーin youth, in adult life, in old ageーyou must put it right, to the best of your ability.

　"When you have done so, or tried to do so, as honestly as you can, you have set into motion another expression of your own soul that cancels the wrong you have done. The law is as simple as that.

　"It is easier if you right, or try to right, an earthly wrong whilst you are still on earth, manifesting through a physical body. This is the place where the act was committed; this is the place where it is easiest for it to be put right. The longer you delay, the worse it becomes and the effect is to impede your own spiritual growth.

　"Where there is an honest attempt to right a wrong, you call to your aid those who love you, for any effort in the right direction immediately has the backing of those who desire to see you live your life as it should be lived."

　A woman whose pity was moved by the needless suffering of animals asked that her letter should be read to Silver Birch, She wrote:

　"Can you give us who want to help animals that suffer any ideas how we can best help them? We are told that some animals are even skinned alive for their furs. Sheep are beaten with steel rods so that their lambs shall be born sooner, because then the lambskin is softer and more glossy for fur coats, etc. The steel trap is used all over the world to catch, for their fur, animals that linger on in pain for days. 

　"Some of us do not know what to do to speed up help and pity for these creatures. Can you give us any hope that those who are trying to help them have spirit aid? Some of us are sleepless and miserable at times thinking of the helpless animals in pain, and no one to pity or free them. 

　"What a joy it would be to know that our prayers for them were answered, that kindly spirits set them free, if only by death to their poor bodies, when they are caught in the steel trap, or lying on the table of the vivisectionist."

　"The power of the spirit is directed towards inspiring those who tirelessly, fearlessly and ceaselessly crusade against cruelty in all its forms," replied Silver Birch. 

　"There are many whose anger rises at cruelty to children; there are fewer whose anger rises at cruelty to the dumb animals who are supposed to be in the care of their superiors.

　"The whole of creation is knit together and man's respon-sibility extends beyond his own kith and kin, for he has dominion over the beasts of the fields and many of the birds in the air. Thus it is that he should prevent the cruelty directed towards helpless creatures who give him no offence. It is not part of the divine plan that animals should be slaughtered so that their carcases may be used for the adornment of human bodies. All cruelty, especially needless cruelty, must be abhorred.

　"Those who champion the rights of dumb creation must continue to fight, always appealing to the moral principle that is involved. He who is cruel to a bird or a beast will be cruel to a man or a woman. Cruelty begets cruelty. Love and kindness beget love and kindliness. It is bad for those who are cruel as it is unnecessarily harmful to the victims of the cruelty.

　"Let those whose hearts are stirred, and whose pity melts at the spectacle of cruelty continue to labour valiantly, knowing that in the end triumph will be theirs. Much of it is done in ignorance, but when the eyes are opened and knowledge comes, a great deal of this cruelty will be abolished."

　"No doubt if all people knew how these furs were obtained they would not wear them," was the comment of a member of the circle.

　"What you must realise is this, that once you are receptive to truth you become receptive to other aspects of that truth," said Silver Birch. "If your spirit is awakened, if it is touched then you start on the long road of enfranchisement. It must be done gradually. There are many reforms to be achieved and the power of the spirit must be left to work its beneficent will wherever it can find channels through which to operate."

　"Would this be a happier world and would people become healthier if they were vegetarians?" was the next question submitted to the guide. To which he replied: 

　"I will answer the question by saying that in my view the answer must be 'yes.' From many points of view meat eating is deleterious. These points of view include physical, mental and spiritual aspects. Not only is the moral question involved, the health question is involved, too. From the spiritual point of view I would go so far as to contend that, with the evolu-tion of the race, vegetarianism will become the increasing diet of larger numbers of people."

　"In other words, animals were not put on the earth to be killed and consumed by human beings," put in another member of the circle.

　"No! And neither were humans put into the world to be consumed by animals," said Silver Birch with one of his examples of humour. "But you are preaching a gospel that still, to a large extent, is in advance of the time. Nevertheless, that is the truth as I see it.

　"More particularly I would add that for those who are in-terested in the development of their psychic gifts and spiritual faculties, abstinence from meat, fish and poultry will help their unfoldment. This habit coarsens the physical body, and when the temple is coarse the senses, the finer senses that have to operate through it, cannot reach the peak of perfection which should be theirs."

　A long letter was read to Silver Birch from a man who wondered whether this guide's philosophy was not for the multitude. "Would it not be better," he asked, "for them to have some of the simpler forms of religion, such as the earlier Christians taught, for example, the doctrine of redemption? Is not that doctrine more useful today rather than some of the teaching that people like yoursclf give?"

　"I would deny the very basis of the question," was the spirit answer. "I affirm that the teaching of the spirit is for the multitude. I assert that it is simple truth which the multitude can understand, assimilate, and prize, and that it will provide them with all that they require in the name of religion.

　"The test of all teaching is simpleーis it true? No other standard matters. We are not concerned with convenience, we are not concerned with opinion, but with presenting the multitudes with truth to which they can hold on in times of

difficulty and know that it will sustain them when all else fails. 

　"The other teachings to which reference is made have failed to gain increasing support because they are not true. An instance is offered of the belief in redemption. None can redeem you; you must redeem yourself. None can bear upon his shoulders the responsibilities of your life. None can absolve you from the sins that you have committed. None can inter-fere or alter the law of cause and effect which operates with inexorable precision. 

　"Is it true?' That is the test. We offer the teachings of the spirit because when all else has failed to help mankind, we know that these truths will succeed, for they are truths. When the multitude builds religion on the shifting sands of false theology, they have no religion in the real sense of the term. When religion is built on the foundation of spiritual truth, then no matter what may happen it will withstand every assault and enable those who have found truth to surviye all earthly disasters and still be unshaken because truth is theirs."

　"The questioners fall into the error of thinking it is only the minority who can understand spiritual truth," said the circle member who is an ex-preacher.

　"The truths of the spirit are very simple," Silver Birch averred. "They can be grasped by all; they are intended for all. It is not part of the divine plan that there should be a small sect, a divinely favoured few. It is the many we are trying to reach because it is the many with whom we are con-cerned."

　"What is the correct thing to say to an atheistic young person who has lost his mother in tragic circumstances?"

　When this question was put to Silver Birch he replied:

　"It is difficult to give a general answer that might not suit cases which require individual treatment, but, generally speaking, the reply should be along the lines that to one who considers reason is

supreme, to use that reason and to make inquiry for himself.

　"He has nothing to lose and everything to gain by making his own search, delving, investigating, pursuing, until he is able to reach a conclusion, one way or the other. Either it is true that life is a continuous process and that the grave does not exterminate individuality, or else it is a falsehood. He need not attach any value to the opinions of others who have been engaged on this quest for many years, long before he arrived on the physical scene. He can form his own conclu-sions based upon his own experience.

　"Then if he really is prepared to follow the dictates of reason and to allow his mind to be moulded by experience, he will, if he is normal, find that the love which exists between a mother and son is not shattered by death and that that love is capable of finding its own wherever they may be. He must provide the opportunity."

　The next inquiry was, "Can euthanasia ever be right?" 

　Silver Birch replied: "This is a question that I have answered beforeーand I am against it. I say so, not because I am in-different or callous to suffering. You cannot live for very long in our world without becoming increasingly sensitive

to the pains of others. But I feel that the verdict of determin-ing the end of the manifestation of life through a body should not be placed, generally speaking, in the hands of those who are woefully ignorant of spiritual truths and who are not,

unfortunately, cxperts as to what is and is not incurable."

　This question came from a blind woman. "What is the greater aid in spiritual progress, love or knowledge?"

　"That is not quite so easy as it sounds," was the guide's response. "I would say on balance that it is love, if I am allowed to define love as the love that embraces not only one individual but all humanity. If you have reached that stage where you feel that you can have love for all, not only for those whom you like or who are near and close and dear to you, then that is an indication that your feet are very firmly planted on the road of spiritual progress and it shows that you do have knowledge of spiritual principles. So that love, I think, is the greater aid, because you can have knowledge without love, but you cannot have love without knowledge."

　Here the member of the circle who was submitting these questions from inquirers made the comment, "I suppose you could have love without knowledge of our Spiritualist truths and knowledge of Survival."

　"Yes," said the guide, "but, just the same, it is the index of spiritual progression that is the question. You can progress spiritually without having a knowledge of what is called Spiritualism." 

　"Why do many bad people prosper in health and affairs and good ones suffer?" was the next question.

　Silver Birch replied: "All attempts to judge the perfection of natural law by earthly happenings are a very poor standard of comparison. The earthly life is a very short aspect of a tremendously large life that will continue when the individual has finished with all the affairs of earth.

　"But, even apart from that, is the correct appraisal of human happenings to be determined by the outward show? Can human beings look into the heart, into the soul and into the mind? Can they know the inner life of every individual, the secret thoughts and cares and worries and pains and aches? All that transpires is part of a vast earthly lesson, for every experience is stamped indelibly on the soul, helping it to grow through happiness and pain, through joy and sorrow, through sunshine and storm, through health and sickness."

　In repeating the next question "What is the best way to achieve a perfect state of society?" the comment was made that it had topical value and perhaps a political interest. 

　"I am above all parties," asserted the guide. "I hold to eternal principles. Let this spirit truth be the leaven. Let it work its influence among people of all parties, of all religion and of no religion. No one group of people possess the whole of truth; no human being, by virtue of his humanity, can contain the whole of truth.

　"What this knowledge can do is to teach the children of the Great Spirit who are living in your world how they can realise, not only their own potential divinities, but be the instruments for a larger power that can influence all mankind. If through millions of instruments this mighty power of the spirit could flow with all its regenerative force, bringing in its train inspiration, beauty, love and fellowship, see how every aspect of human life would be transformed.

　"Individuals would become conscious of their imperfec-tions and seek so to improve their own lives that they would become nearer to perfection. They would bend their energies in those directions wherever there are obstacles, impediments to man achieving the fruits of his own soul. Thus, gradually, the whole of society would become less and less imperfect and grow nearer and nearer to perfection as all the excres-cences, the blots, the stains, the hideousnesses were driven out and mankind lived in peace and harmony, having learnt the value of co-operation and mutual service." 

　Here is how Silver Birch dealt with two questions that asked him to interpret certain New Testament texts: "I am not going to be tied down by words which appear in your Bible. As I have said so many times, they are not an accurate representation of what transpired in those days.

　"Neither do I regard it as fitting or appropriate that my ability to teach truth should depend on my ability to illumine or interpret texts from the Bible. What I have to say must stand or fall by its own reasonableness, by my ability, if it be an ability, to expound truth in such a way that it will be acceptable to those who hear, read or learn it. That is all that I claim to do. I do not claim to be one who will expound the gospels. These matters, interesting though they may be, are incidental. Let us not be deviated from our main task; let us not be sidetracked; let us keep to the fundamentals of truths received in your own day and generation which you are capable of testing for yourselves.

　"And let us all rejoice that the voice of the spirit is once again heard in the land and that the Great Spirit continues to reveal Himself to all those who have eyes to see and ears with which to hearken."

　Variety was lent to the questions by this one, "Is it now becoming easier for the spirit world to communicate?"

　"Yes, the chaos is gradually being disintegrated and order is coming out of the chaos," Silver Birch said. "The intense and violent emotions are beginning to recede and to dissipate. Slowly, that thick fog which surrounded your earth is break-ing up and it is becoming easier to get closer to you, and you will find that this progress will continue." 

　The last question asked at this particular session was, "Does Silver Birch agree that all suffering is brought on by ourselves, that this is the teaching of karma and implies reincarnation?"

　"All suffering is the result of cause and effect," averred the guide. "There is no suffering which comes to any man by hazard or chance or coincidence; it is due to circumstances in which he has involved himself. It is part of his own pil-grimage, whether in this earthly life or in another. I cannot prove that; I cannot demonstrate that; but, nevertheless, that is what I hold to be true."

　Silver Birch's closing words at this, the last meeting of his circle for the summer, were: "Use the interval to refresh your-selves, to go out into the fields and to where nature displays her divine artistry, where the bloom of dazzling radiance is to be found in the profusion of beauty that a divine Creator disperses with lavish prodigality.

　"Breathe in the beauty that is all around you. Fill your beings with that recuperative power resident in all nature's growth. Take what nature freely has to offer, to bring you health and vitality, so that you can return to your tasks refreshed in body and in mind and in spirit.

　"I will not be far away, for I am attached to you all by the bond of love that cannot be severed, and in my heart there is always that love which you bear for me, which warms and cheers me and encourages me to go on with the task to which I have dedicated myself. For your constancy and your de-votion, for your fidelity and for your affection, I express my pride and assure you, as I have assured you in days gone by, that I will continue to serve you with every ounce of my being, with all my strength and with all my love.

　"Let us pause, ere we depart, to ask for that benediction which comes from on high to all servants who seek to minister to the needy. Let us resolve that we will fulfil our labours in the consciousness that we have been called to service and pray that strength shall be given to each one of us to fulfil our allotted labour.

　"The Great Spirit bless you all."